Ink Cards: Send Custom Cards

We have family who aren’t internet savvy, and they feel the isolation more intensely in the pandemic. Sending photos & little updates about the kids regularly is much easier now! No errands to the photo center or rewriting the same note over and over. I can send a whole batch of cards in 5 or 10 minutes! Choosing a nice template is fun, and uploading a couple photos and adding a little note is simple. I love that addresses are saved and can be grouped as a batch. I was pleasantly surprised by the feature that allows for editing the message on the card to personalize the message for an individual recipient before completing an order - without rewriting the entire note! And the post cards are much higher quality prints than I can get at stores with photo printing. It’s more expensive, but the simplicity & direct mailing make it worth it. Our relatives, especially older folks who are so happy to receive updates about the kids, really appreciate and feel more love now that I’ve been able to connect consistently. After the success of my first order, I bought a bunch of credits at the discounted rate.

I REALLY wanted to like this service because I love the idea of quickly sending personalized cards... but I do NOT recommend them. At least not for a busy time like Christmas! First of all, the app crashed several times and it didn’t always save the changes I made on my card design. Once we finally had the design like we wanted (or so we though) we sent about 10 premium and 60 standard postcard style Christmas cards this year. I was happy they mailed rather quickly, but we were NOT happy with the product. Some of the personalized text we entered on the front of the card was lost (probably from the app crashing, but we didn’t notice before sending them out). The color on the “premium” matte cards seemed washed out, which is totally unacceptable when they cost $4 apiece. Though we don’t know the condition of ALL the standard postcards we sent out (which cost $2 apiece), we do know that every single one of the ones we saw/heard about from our closest friends & family were scratched (only 5, but still... 5 of 5?!?!). I know it’s possible USPS could have damaged one or two, but not all 5 we heard about. A card service like this MUST make their product more robust. Never going to use this for bulk cards again. Even my mother said the quality of my Christmas card this year wasn’t as good as usual. I think you are better off using the photo service at your closest drugstore. I MIGHT try to use a non-photo semi-personalized card when I’m in a pinch, but never again for Christmas.

I’ve been using this app to order cards and I love the simplicity of it. There aren’t a ton of templates to choose from, but I always find something I like, and it prevents me from feeling too overwhelmed with the number of options. I also like that it provides me with notifications regarding shipping and delivery, and the free postage is a major plus. My frustration occurs mostly with customer service. I messaged them from the app and the customer service tab doesn’t have the nicest interface. You send the message, and you never see the message again because there’s no “sent box” or anything. Then after they respond you can’t view the message more than once? So weird. I was also frustrated when I emailed them asking them if they could place high priority on a card meant for a loved one who was dying. I was worried the card wouldn’t arrive before he died, and I wanted him to see the picture on the card. I was told that the card would arrive when it arrived. I guess I was hoping for some empathy and human kindness considering the situation. Just wanted somebody to help me out and get it there the next day. The card arrived 4 or 5 days later, 3 hours before my loved one died and by then he was in a coma. On another note, I also messaged customer service after the apartment number for a card to my aunt was somehow cut off or missing? Never got a response from them and the card was shipped the next day. I really hope that giftcard that was in the envelope doesn’t get lost or stolen in the mail without that apartment number. Pretty frustrating.